LABANAUSKAS WINS MULTIPLE CHALLENGE TOUR TITLES
16/03/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
By Aaron Toubian
THE PDC Challenge Tour held its latest set of events (6-10) in Hildesheim, Germany this weekend, where former Pro Tour stars Darius Labanauskas and Ted Evetts were amongst the big winners!
The weekend began in fitting fashion, as German, Dragutin Horvat, came through multiple tough challengers to seal the Event Six title on home soil.
‘Hercules’ averaged over 97 and came from 4-2 down to claim a 5-4 victory over 2021 World Youth Champion, Ted Evetts, in the first final of the weekend.
Lithuanian, ‘Lucky D’, backed up his earlier success on the tour’s opening weekend in January by picking up back-to-back titles on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
Friday saw him overcome recent Tour Card holder, Keegan Brown, by a 5-2 scoreline in the Event Seven final.
Half a day later, it was Event Eight glory for Labanauskas, as he fought back from 4-1 down to stun 2010 Grand Slam of Darts champion, Scott Waites, 5-4 in the final.
On Saturday night, it was Ted Evetts who finally picked up his first title of 2025, after coming close on multiple occasions.
Evetts beat German, Michael Unterbuchner, in the Event Nine final by a comfortable 5-1 scoreline.
This capped off a strong run to the final, where ‘Super Ted’ averaged 103 and 100 to beat Graham Hall and Andreas Harrysson respectively.
The weekend’s biggest underdog story came in Sunday’s sole event as Scott Campbell ran out the Event Ten champion.
The 35-year-old from Aberdeen beat the likes of Ryan O’Connor, Jamai van den Herik, James Beeton and Jacques Labre, as well as earlier champion Evetts, en route to victory.
Campbell overcame Dan Hands 5-3 in a final where the Scotsman produced a magnificent 140 outshot to break Hands’ throw early on in the contest.
Following the weekend’s five events, Darius Labanauskas climbs above Beau Greaves to sit comfortably on top of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit.
‘Laban’ and Greaves are followed by Stefan Bellmont, Ted Evetts, Carl Sneyd, Scott Campbell, Mervyn King, Dragutin Horvat, Kevin Burness and Michael Unterbuchner, who make up the top ten.
The Challenge Tour season continues in Milton Keynes on 2-4 May.
Image by Taylor Lanning.
